Spitzkoppe to Cheetah Park

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Breakfasted as day broke over the stunning Spitzkoppe mountains with he prospect ahead of 6-7 hours on the road. Within minutes of leaving we broke down with a re-occurrence of the brake problem - apparently the pin was welded rather than replaced and had snapped again. After a big delay we continued with one brake drum less. The roads were 95% dirt ones and particularly bone jarring. After two hours we got stuck in sand. Mwangi had encountered problems here on a previous trip and attempted with a run up to get through at speed but a large log flew up a banged the underside of the truck as we got stuck. It smashed off the number plate but luckily avoided hitting the radiator by inches. We would have been stranded if the radiator had gone and outside mobile reception (and we’d seen virtually no other traffic). We used sandboards to eventually get out at a second attempt. Nearby as we waited local people were collecting pods from a tree to feed to their goats. The woman had her face painted with a red pigment - apparently as protection against the sun. Later we had to stop at Uis for emergency welding repairs due to damage to the engine mount when we struck the log in he sand. After lunch at the roadside we continued for half an hour and then started spotting animals at the roadside - at first kudo, then some warthogs and finally to our delight our first giraffes. We passed roadside stalls run by woman in distinctive local dress which includes a strange longitudinal headdress. We arrived at the cheetah park refuge where we are to camp. They rear cheetahs in captivity which would otherwise be shot by local farmers. We met the domesticated cheetahs that live with the family that run the reserve. We were able to stroke and have our pictures taken with these beautiful creatures. They also have a lively Jack Russell who is not intimidated by the far larger cheetahs - but they soon put him in his place if he gets too playful. Later we went on a pickup tour in the compound of the wilder cheetahs at feeding time. It is menacing as they surround the pickup in anticipation of the hurled donkey meat. They fight for the meat and then slink off with their ‘catch’. In one compound are the far fiercer and more cautious cheetahs that have only recently arrived. There is an atmospheric bar at the campsite where we drank till late. Apparently a cheetah cub was loose in our camp overnight as they couldn’t find it till morning to return to its mother. There were many interesting birds at the campsite including a toucan like one.

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Photos

First giraffes
A distant and not very good photo but our first wild giraffes

Myself with domesticated cheetahs
I had to take my sunglasses off because the cheetahs think they are big eyes